“It’s been many a day since I’ve had such biscuit and gravy, E——,” I observed.
“‘It’s been many a day since I’ve had such biscuit and gravy, E——,’” mocked my brother.
“Get out, you!” chimed in my sister. “Just listen to him, the old snooks! I can’t get him out of the kitchen, can I, George? He’s always eating. ‘It’s been many a day——’ Ho! Ho!”
“I thought you were dieting?” I inquired.
“So I am, but you don’t expect me not to eat this morning, do you? I’m doing this to welcome you.”
“Some welcome!” I scoffed.
Our chatter became more serious as the first glow of welcome wore off. During it all I was never free of a sense of the hugeness and strangeness of the city and the fact that at last I was here. And in this immense and far-flung thing my sister had this minute nook. From where I sat I could hear strange moanings and blowings which sounded like foghorns.
“What is that noise?” I finally asked, for to me it was eerie.
“Boats—tugs and vessels in the harbor. There’s a fog on,” explained H——, E——’s husband.
I listened to the variety of sounds, some far, some near, some mellow, some hoarse. “How far away are they?”